


The Trouble with Writers

by Rose Argent (roseargent)



Category: Junjou Romantica
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-21
Updated: 2009-12-21
Packaged: 2017-10-04 22:35:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseargent/pseuds/Rose%20Argent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A part-time job at Akihiko's publisher leads Misaki into a little more than he bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Trouble with Writers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [issen4](https://archiveofourown.org/users/issen4/gifts).



> I'm afraid that this was finished only at the last minute, so it's not as polished as I would like. It didn't turn out quite how I expected when I started, but I hope it's to my giftee's liking anyway. It could possibly get away with a lower rating, but I stuck with "mature" just to be safe.
> 
> ETA: Not canon compliant after volume 11 or thereabouts!

The first time he set foot in the editorial department of Marukawa Publishing, Misaki decided that it was one place he absolutely never wanted to work; the atmosphere was oppressively gloomy and the people were half-dead with what had to be exhaustion. Who would ever want to end up there? But he hadn't counted on The Isaka-san Factor.

Even knowing perfectly well that Isaka-san would say anything--even blatant, outright lies--to get what he wanted, Misaki still ended up falling for his tricks. "Just until the Junai Romantica anime is done. Just part-time, like your current job. The work won't be hard, and if you're there Akihiko might actually show up for meetings. It would be a big help, for me and for the company." And the pay was so much better than Misaki's current part-time job that it was hard to resist. Officially, Misaki became a go-fer for the editorial department; unofficially, he was there as Usagi-bait.

And whenever Usagi-san had a meeting about the anime or one of his other projects, Aikawa-san would call him up and tell him how _very well~_ Misaki was fitting in at the office, and how everyone just _loved~_ him. Even though he had to know it was a trap, Usagi-san would still come storming into the office to make sure that no one was touching his Misaki. As soon as he walked in the doors he'd get herded off to whatever meeting was lying in wait for him and everyone--except, of course, Usagi-san--was happy.

If that had been all there was to it, Misaki's pride could never have taken it but it actually wasn't such a bad job. Running errands was easier than all the work Misaki did at home, because there were other people to do the cleaning and the only thing he had to "cook" was coffee. Aikawa-san often left cream-puffs or other sweets around the office, and everyone was so grateful for any lightening of their own workloads that Misaki always felt welcome and useful.

Usually Misaki's work was limited to the Marukawa office building, but today he found himself standing outside an unfamiliar gate, waiting for the occupant to buzz him in. Actually, Misaki was feeling some serious deja-vu--the "condo" he'd been sent to was more like a mansion, and he felt as out of place here as he had waiting outside Usagi-san's place that first time. Even though he lived in a place even bigger than this, Misaki still had the feeling of being an ordinary commoner way out of his depth; all he needed was a pot of pork soup and it'd be just like that time, over a year ago, when his life had changed so drastically. _No way! It's not really the same. I'm here for work, to pick up a manuscript. I'm not begging for tutoring. No Usamones here, just a normal errand._

There was a buzz and a click of something unlocking, but no one appeared so Misaki pushed the gate open himself, shaking off the lingering feelings of deja-vu. Knocking on the left-hand door of the duplex, Misaki wondered if Watanabe-sensei was even home. But someone had buzzed him in, and after a few moments a voice--muffled by distance and the door--called out something that sounded a bit like "It's open."

Opening the door and walking in, Misaki discovered there was no one in the entry way or living room, either. But he could hear the faint sound of typing, and the much louder sound of someone cursing, from one of the open doors upstairs. "Watanabe-sensei?" This was all feeling way too familiar, no matter how much Misaki tried to convince himself it was different. There were no freaky BL books piled on the table, but Misaki was still going to have to brave some crazy author's lair, just like he had with Usagi-san.

And then there was a crash and a particularly loud curse from upstairs, and Misaki ran up without a second thought. If Watanabe-san had keeled over from exhaustion like Usagi-san used to, it would be really bad!

But actually, it turned out that he'd thrown his laptop against the wall. Misaki winced at the waste of money, but he bit his tongue about that and only said, "Watanabe-sensei, I'm here from Marukawa Publishing. Matsumoto-san sent me? He said you'd be expecting me. I'm here for the manuscri--"

Looking more than a bit haggard, Watanabe-sensei pulled at his hair and wailed, "It's garbage! I can't give him that! And anyway," his voice dropped to a gloomy mumble, "it was in there." He pointed at the remains of his laptop.

"Eh?" Misaki felt his heart sink into his shoes. Matsumoto-san was Watanabe-sensei's editor, and he'd seemed pretty sure that Misaki just needed to pick up the finished manuscript. "Matsumoto-san seemed to think it was done..."

Watanabe-sensei looked guilty, then, and Misaki realised that the author had lied about his manuscript, probably to get his editor off his back. What the heck was Misaki supposed to do now?

Calling Matsumoto-san--and incredibly glad that he'd thought to get the editor's number before leaving on this "simple" errand--Misaki explained the situation and then held the phone away from his ear as Matsumoto-san shrieked wordlessly on the other end. Misaki couldn't get much out of him after that, except more wailing, but he at least learned that the deadline had already been pushed back repeatedly and the printers were expecting the manuscript first thing in the morning.

That was pretty much when Misaki snapped. He'd seen how much chaos and stress Usagi-san caused by pulling this sort of thing, and Watanabe-san was no better! "I can't believe you! Do you have any idea how many people are depending on your for this manuscript? How much stress you're causing your editor? And what about the printers? And you just threw your work away like it was nothing?"

Watanabe-sensei looked startled, then ashamed, and mumbled, "I might have a backup of the first half..."

It took an hour of combing through the chaotic office, but Misaki finally turned up the backup disc. Watanabe-sensei loaded it into the desktop computer--which he thankfully hadn't trashed--and went back to work with a kind of desperate determination, swearing up and down that he'd finish the thing by morning or die trying.

Neither Misaki nor Matsumoto-san trusted the author not to freak out again if he was left alone, but Matsumoto-san promised he'd come by as soon as he could to take over watching over the author. Not sure when he'd finish the work that had kept him chained to his desk in the first place, though, the editor promised to tell Aikawa-san what was going on. Misaki was glad that she'd be the one to have to break the news to Usagi-san, and not him.

"Do you want some coffee? Something to eat?" Watanabe-sensei answered Misaki's question with a vaguely affirmative grunt, so Misaki wandered back downstairs to find the kitchen.

... Which turned out to be in even worse shape than the office. Was this what Usagi-san's place had been like before Misaki moved in?

Unable to work around the mess, Misaki rolled up his sleeves and set to cleaning up as well as he could. He checked in on Watanabe-sensei periodically, which slowed him down quite a bit, so it was after dinner time before Misaki had a kitchen he could even think of working with. Except then there turned out to be hardly anything in the fridge anyway.

After scrounging up enough ingredients to make rice balls, Misaki brought those and some coffee--which was the one thing _not_ in short supply--up to Watanabe-sensei's office. The clock read half-past eight at that point, and Misaki wondered how Usagi-san was faring without him there to cook dinner. Hopefully he hadn't hurt himself or destroyed the kitchen.

Ten o'clock passed, and Misaki gave Matsumoto-san another call. He was still at the office, still swamped, but promised he'd come soon.

Midnight rolled by, and it was taking more and more coffee to keep Watanabe-sensei working, so Misaki didn't dare take a nap on the couch downstairs. He didn't even have his homework with him, so Misaki kept himself busy cleaning the rest of the condo in between coffee runs.

By the time Matsumoto-san finally arrived, looking like death warmed over, the sun was starting to rise. Misaki felt about as good as Matsumoto-san and Watanabe-sensei looked, and he barely listened as Matsumoto-san apologised over and over. He just wanted to get home, to Usagi-san and sleep.

The morning trains were running by the time Misaki stumbled into the station, but it was early enough that they weren't packed. Grateful for small miracles, Misaki slumped into a seat and closed his eyes for a moment.

Next Misaki knew, someone was shaking him gently and calling his name. Dragging his eyes open, Misaki found himself staring up at the very worried face of his older brother. For a minute Misaki couldn't figure out what could possibly be going on, but as the packed train and Takahiro's suit-and-briefcase penetrated his sleep-fogged mind, Misaki realised that it was now rush hour and his brother was probably on his way to work. How long had he been here, passed out while the train circled the Yamanote loop endlessly? "Ah, Bro. What time is it?"

Takahiro visibly relaxed, his shoulders slumping a little in obvious relief. "Misaki, thank goodness you're okay. What on Earth are you doing here, asleep on the train? Did you have a fight with Usagi?"

Misaki explained as well as he could, but halfway through his story he could tell that he was only making Takahiro even more worried. That was the last thing Misaki wanted, but it was too late to come up with a harmless-sounding lie.

"Misaki, you can't stay at that job! Don't they understand you're a student? They can't work you this hard!" Obviously distressed, Takahiro fussed over Misaki as much as he could on the crowded train, checking his forehead for signs of fever. When the announcement for Misaki's stop came on, he helped Misaki push through the rush-hour crowd towards the doors.

"Big Bro, you have to go to work!" This was turning into a nightmare. Misaki was upsetting and causing trouble for his precious brother, and he could only imagine how freaked out Usagi-san was going to be when he finally got home.

"I'm not letting you walk home alone, not in this state!" Takahiro got off the train with Misaki, stubbornly refusing to go to work until he was sure Misaki was home safe.

But Takahiro's determination ended up being moot, because right outside the station was a very flashy, very familiar sports car, with a very angry, very familiar Usagi-san waiting beside it. His expression lightened a bit when he saw Misaki, and a bit more when he saw Takahiro, but there was still a lot of strain in his voice as he said, "Get in. We're going home."

Takahiro seemed like he was going to say something, but Misaki shoved him gently back towards the station. "Go on, you have work, and Usagi-san will get me home. And I'll quit that job as soon as I've had some sleep, I promise." With obvious reluctance, Takahiro let it go at that, but Misaki knew he'd be getting a phone call tonight after his brother got home from work. He just hoped Takahiro wouldn't blame Usagi-san for this.

And then there was Usagi-san himself to deal with. Misaki was just about vibrating with tension by the time they made it home, the ride back had been so silent and miserable.

When the front door had closed behind them, Usagi-san turned and pressed Misaki up against it. "Where were you? All night! Do you have any idea--" He trailed off there, shaking a little as he hugged Misaki painfully tightly.

"Eh? Aikawa-san was supposed to call you..." But she must have. If Usagi-san hadn't had _any_ idea where Misaki was, he would have called. Endlessly. Every five minutes.

"She said you were with some author, wringing a manuscript out of him. She said you shouldn't be disturbed or it would take even longer. What author? Where? Was it that Ijuuin, that Da*Man author you like so much?" Usagi was sounding less and less worried as the moments passed, and more and more jealous and angry. Jealous and angry, though, were so much more normal that Misaki found himself relaxing a little.

"No, a novelist. I don't even know what he writes, I was just supposed to be picking up a finished manuscript. But it wasn't finished. Uhm. Obviously. I spent the whole night making coffee, it was so lame!" Misaki tried to laugh, to make it sound like a big, silly pain in the ass. Which it had been. But Usagi-san was still holding onto him like Misaki was going to float away if he let go for a second, and Misaki thought maybe he wasn't as over the 'worried' part as he thought. He knew he should say something, something better. _I'm sorry_ or _I love you_, but the words just kind of stuck in his throat, like always.

With no warning at all, Usagi-san picked Misaki up and flung him over one shoulder, then carried him upstairs and tossed him on the bed. Misaki suspected that if he closed his eyes for so much as a second he'd doze off again, so he watched Usagi-san intently and tried to focus. The older man leaned over him and pinned him to the bed, but the look on his face was still so strange that Misaki didn't even start protesting or complaining yet. "I said I would trust you and you get so upset when I don't. But you were gone _all night_ and I--" Usagi-san made a disgusted noise and rested more of his weight on Misaki, mumbling, "I don't know what to do with you."

Misaki didn't know what to do, either. He always screwed it up at important moments like this, by saying the wrong thing, saying anything and everything except for what he really meant. So instead he wrapped his arms around Usagi-san's shoulders and said nothing at all. They stayed like that for a heartbeat, and then two, and Misaki wanted to close his eyes and go to sleep just like this.

And then Usagi-san's hand was on the zipper of his trousers and Misaki flailed at him in dismay. "Stop that! I haven't had any sleep, I'm tired!"

Even though he couldn't see Usagi-san's face from this angle, Misaki could just _tell_ he was grinning _that_ grin, like all the worry and anger and awkwardness had never happened and he had only one thing on his mind. Stupid Usagi! Bastard Usagi! See if Misaki would ever feel sorry for him again and-- "No, don't touch there!"

Tilting his head to whisper into Misaki's ear, Usagi-san said, "I don't know, little Misaki here seems to have _lots_ of energy." Misaki's protests faded into embarrassing little moans under Usagi-san's relentless hands.

If he didn't love Usagi-san so much, Misaki would swear off hanging around writers forever.


End file.
